A Book Review: The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell (The Warlord Chronicles #1)

The story of King Arthur and his noble knights of the round table painted my childhood with colorful memories. Arthurian legend has found legions of admirers around the world. The story of King Arthur will always occupy a special place in my heart.

If you have heard of King Arthur, then I suspect you may be asking the same question as I do: Was Arthur a real person?

Historians have never been able to confirm the historicity of Arthur. However, some evidence do exist that may suggest Arthur was a 5^th century British warlord who fought against the invading Saxons. For examples, Gildas wrote in De Excido et Conquestu Britanniae, that in the 5^th century, an atypical fashion suddenly emerged in Britain where many men were named “Arthur”; Gildas' record suggests these men were perhaps named after a powerful, famous person. Yet, it wasn't until the 8^th century when the famous historian Nennius first mentioned Arthur. Surprisingly, Nennius never called Arthur a king. Instead, Nennius referred to Arthur as “Dux Bellorum”, which means “the Leader of Battles”. Some believes Nennius' chronicle drew on ancient folklore from Welsh traditions. This also means Nennius' account, while thought-provoking, is not a definitive proof for the historicity of Arthur. In the 14^th century, the story of Arthur flourished in the French court, and poets, as well as Christian monks, imbued the story of Arthur with spiritual meanings (such as the Holy grail). The Christian interpretation of Arthurian legend became the story of King Arthur as we know today.

I guess the bottom line is, at the end of the day we may never know the true history of Arthur. Nevertheless, I think Arthurian legend is one of those stories where its meaning and symbolism has become far more important than cold hard facts. However, if, as now commonly believed, that Arthur was a 5^th century British warlord, then it does mean the real story of Arthur would have been very different to our modern conception. To begin with, the real Arthur and his warriors wouldn't have been knights in shining, medieval plate armors. Instead, Arthur and his warriors would have equipped themselves with Romano-British armors and wielding spears.

Furthermore, if Arthur was a warlord who lived in the Dark Ages, this means he was living in a turbulent time. A time when Britain was divided by infighting, while simultaneously facing the external threat of Saxon invasions. It would have also been a time when the new religion of Christianity clashed against the old pagan tradition of druidism in Britain. It would have been a grim, but fascinating era. The kind of era that often gave birth to history's greatest heroes.

Inspired by this historical background, the British novelist, Bernard Cornwell, created a trilogy of critically acclaimed historical fiction novels, The Warlord Chronicles. This trilogy opened, stunningly, with a first book titled: The Winter King.

Synopsis:

On a frosty winter day, Queen Igraine, the wife of King Brochvael, visited brother Derfel in a monastery. Brother Derfel was once a pagan warrior who fought for Arthur, but later converted to Christianity and now living a simple life of a monk in his old age. The young queen begged Derfel to tell her the true story of Arthur.

The queen's pleading roused in Derfel the buried memories of his lord Arthur; the King that Never Was, the Enemy of God, and the best man he ever knew. Derfel remembered how he wept for Arthur, and he recounted the tale of Arthur for the young queen; this is how it began.

It began with a birth.

Once upon a time in a land called Britain, Queen Norwenna gave birth to a babe. The babe was the grandson of Uther Pendragon, the High King of Britain. The babe was born with a crippled foot and they named him Mordred. Uther was an old man, cunning but prejudiced against his bastard son Arthur.

Uther knew his days on earth were numbered, and he feared for Mordred because he was yet to come to age. So Uther held a council and chose 3 protectors to guard Mordred until he could reach maturity and rule as the High King.

A twist of fate forced Uther to appoint reluctantly, Arthur, as one of the protectors for Modred. Uther passed away shortly after the council's conclusion. The old king left behind a legacy that drew enemies as fresh meat attracting vultures from the sky. Very soon, Britain descended into chaos and infighting. But one warrior dreamed of peace, he dreamed of a Britain united against the invading Saxons. This warrior was Arthur, and his struggle to unite Britain was a tale of fire and blood...

My thoughts on this book:

Where do I begin? How do I begin to review, one of my favorite books of all time? Ok, let me start my review this way:

Goodreads has my eternal gratitude because it introduced The Warlord Chronicles to me. This trilogy opens with The Winter King. This book has everything that I could ever ask for in a novel; strong characterizations, a gripping plot, a historical background based on extensive research, political intrigues, religious conflicts, heart-pounding battle scenes, and wonderfully written prose.

Bernard Cornwell is a skillful writer. His writing brought the world of Arthur to life with much vividness. Every scenery in this book; from the lush forests, picturesque villages and towns, to the muddy ground of the battlefield, I felt as if I could smell, taste and feel the textures of the Dark Ages. Bernard Cornwell described every scene in details yet his writing was never over-burdened by too much details. The descriptions for every scene and every character left deep impression on my mind. Bernard Cornwell also excelled at writing the battle scenes. He captured, so vividly, what it was like to be fighting in the shield walls. The actions in this book are full of blood and thunder, yet it does not revel in violence or using gore as entertainment. Instead, Cornwell's writing instills, subtly, a feeling of melancholy in the readers' hearts, when readers reflect on the tragedy of wars.

The Winter King used 1^st person narrative. Derfel narrated the story from his point of view. Through Derfel's eyes, we bear witness to the life and dreams of Arthur. In this book, Britain was a land of many conflicts. The Romans just left Britain, leaving behind a power vacuum that caused much infighting. Meanwhile, the Saxons threatened to invade Britain and constantly assaulted the borders. Finally, the Romans brought and left the new religion of Christianity in Britain, and it clashed against the old tradition of druidism. This story has many themes, one of them is the old religion versus the new. Where both religions were intolerant of each others' existence. And Cornwell masterfully weaved this religious conflict into politics, showing readers how religion impacted political decisions, and in turn, affected the lives of everyday people.

The Winter King stuns readers with its marvelous characterizations. This novel features a cast of familiar characters from the traditional Arthurian legend. Characters such as Arthur, Merlin, Guinevere, Derfel, Lancelot, Galahad, Nimue, Morgan, and Mordred. However, unlike the traditional Arthurian legend where characters were perfectly good or utterly evil, Cornwell's characters stood as a morally ambiguous bunch. In The Winter King, Cornwell portrayed every character as flawed human beings. They were like real people. None of them were perfect, most were fighting for what they believed was true. Yet, each character also had personal weaknesses and were deeply flawed.

In this book, Arthur was, generally, a descent man who had a noble dream. Arthur didn't care about religion. His dream was uniting Britain against the Saxons, and build a kingdom where people could follow whatever religion they desire in peace. However, Arthur also had flaws and his shortcomings ultimately threatened the very dream he bled for. In contrast to Arthur, Merlin was a druid. His only cared about finding the 13 treasures of Britain and restoring the power of druidism. Merlin didn't care much about Arthur or the people. To Merlin, Arthur was his tool. Suffice to say, while Merlin's character was sometimes funny and his knowledge was impressive, but he was also a cruel, cold and hard to love character.

Under Cornwell's pen, Guinevere was depicted as an ambitious but intelligent woman. However, she exhibited a healthy dose of vanity so I didn't really like her. In this book, Arthur fell madly in love with Guinevere, and his love proved to be a very dangerous thing. The most despicable character in this book, however, is Lancelot. He is a vain, arrogant coward who hid behind the battle front yet bribed the bards to sing untruthful songs about his bravery. I sense Lancelot still has a huge role to play in the rest of the trilogy. Meanwhile, Nihume, instead of being the Lady of the Lake, was depicted as a druid in this book. She was one of Merlin's wards and Derfel's romantic interest. She possessed a fierce passion to see Britain rid of Christian influences.

Derfel is the protagonist in the book. I particularly enjoyed his story. Derfel was Arthur's right hand man, but he converted to Christianity later. In his old age, Derfel appeared as a frail man. I like the way Cornwell portrayed Derfel, it was a portryal that gave off an ambiguous feeling that we can never be sure if Derfel was only paying lip service to his new religion. On the other hand, Galahad was probably most virtuous character in this book. Galahad was a Christian and a noble warrior who joined Arthur's fight to unite Britain. I like the character of Arthur and Derfel, but I think Galahad is my favorite character in this book.

The Winter King opens The Warlord Chronicles with a most spectacular tale. It promises even better books to come. I have read more than 100 books in the past 18 months, and this book is probably my favorite book so far. I loved every page of this book and there was never a dull moment. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a good book to read.